A commonly known type of lead making machine, as shown for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,019,697, and 4,489,476 comprises a wire feeder for feeding wire from an endless source, such as a barrel or reel, through and beyond a cutting and stripping zone. After the wire has been fed, it is cut to produce a cut lead with the leading end of the wire extending from the endless source to a location adjacent to the cutter. Machines of the type shown in the above-identified U.S. patents thereafter present the cut ends of both the lead and the wire extending from the source to crimping machines so that terminals can be crimped onto the wire ends.
Most, if not all of the machines of the type described above are capable of feeding only a single wire (or perhaps two wires in tandem) and are not capable of feeding any one of a plurality of wires which would be drawn from a plurality of endless sources. It would be desirable to add to machines of the type described above the capability of selectively feeding any one of a plurality of wires for the reason that it would then be possible to produce, during continuous operation of the machine, a series of leads having wires of different colors or different gauges which would be used to produce a specific harness. Recent advances in the harness making arts require that all of the leads for a given harness be produced immediately prior to the assembly of these leads to each other and if all of the leads required for a specific harness are to be produced by the same machine and within a short time cycle, it is obvious that the machine must be capable of selectively feeding any one of the types of wires required in the harness.
There are several difficulties which must be overcome in order to provide a multiple wire feeding system to lead making machines of the type described or harness making machines employing the same features as the machines described above. For example, machines of the type described in the above-identified U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,019,697, and 4,489,476 require that after the wire extending from the source has been cut, it must be in a predetermined position so that it can then be presented by the machine to the crimping press which requires precise location of the wire between the crimping die and the crimping anvil. Most, if not all, of the known types of selective wire feeds which are known to the art require that the array of wires be in side-by-side, parallel, co-planar relationship and the known types of wire feeds are capable of only feeding these wires in the direction of their axes along straight line paths. At the end of a given feeding cycle for a specific wire then, the wire end will be at a location which is spaced from the location at which any of the other wires in the array would be located, see for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,043,494 and 4,192,207.
The present invention is directed to the achievement of an improved selective wire feed for feeding any one of a plurality of wires and which locates the end of a fed wire in a precisely predetermined position regardless of which wire in the array is fed. The invention is further directed to the achievement of an improved feeding apparatus and improved control systems for feeding devices.